Sam Cosby Leads the Millionaire Maker
As the Millionaire Maker's massive field was cut down to size on Day 2, a few big names were left heading into Day 3 with a chipstack to match their ambitions of becoming the latest 2019 WSOP millionaire and claiming one of the marquee bracelets of the summer. Among those players hunting the $1 million-plus payday include Sam Cosby, the tournament reporter who took a summer off to play at the WSOP, after he emerged at the end of the day with a massive stack of 3,023,000. Cosby looks to be the only player above the 3 million mark but is followed in the early chip counts by Nathan Russler (2,443,000), 2015 Main Event champion Joe McKeehen (2,416,000), Kathy Liebert (1,375,00) and three-time bracelet winner Dutch Boyd (491,000).
A field of 2,268 began play in Monday's restart hoping for a share of the $11,892,150 prize pool. The winner will take home a first-place prize of $1,344,930. The first two flights brought in 8,809 entries in the multi-entry format, and only 309 players remain for Day 3.
The Day 2 action was fast from the off, with players flying out of the door and others, of course, making strides towards the top of the chipcounts. Cosby, however, left some of his success until very late in the day after winning a massive pot during the last level when he reraised all-in for 1,316,000 on a flop of 
, against Richard Tuhrim who made the call after a long think.
Holding 
, Cosby had to hit the board, but had two overs and the nut flush draw, facing Tuhrim's 
. The 
fell on the turn but the 
river completed the board, giving the flush to Cosby to claim the pot and take over the chip lead.
End of Day Recap
The money bubble burst in the middle of the day with 1,322 players making a minimum payout of $2,246, and thereafter, plenty of bracelets winner were busted, such as Phil Hellmuth ($2324) whose aces fell against jack-nine when his opponent found two pair on the board. He was followed by Michael Addamo ($2,421), John Racener ($2,545), Phillip Hui ($2,545), Adrian Mateos ($2,421), David Pham ($2,699), Justin Liberto ($2,545), Kyle Julius ($2,699) and the 2017 Player of the Year Chris Ferguson ($3, 713) .
Often among the biggest stacks of the tournament and the first player to reach a million chips, the Brazilian pro Joao Simao lost a huge part of his stack before the last break of the day when he pushed all in with ace-high and was called by his opponent with a pair of nines. He ended up bagging a comfortable stack of 1,891,000 for Day 3, but might be left thinking it could have been more.
A few other notables still alive at the end of the day include Kenny Hallaert (526,000), Steven van Zadelhoff (1,400,000), Calvin Anderson (1,674,00), Ramon Colillas (928,000), Arthur Conan (875,000), Matt Berkey (717,000), Ana Marquez (372,000) and current WSOP Player of the Year frontrunner Daniel Zack (338,000).
One of the last bustouts of the day was Maria Lampropulos who lost her last 37 big blinds four-bet shoving preflop with 
against her opponent, who held 
who turned the nut flush.
Day 3 of this four-day event picks up on Monday at 12 noon with 10 more levels of play and a 15-minute break every two levels. Stay tuned on PokerNews for all the live updates.